A conventional crop harvesting machine suited for harvesting berries or other bush-grown or small tree-grown crops such as coffee beans, etc., typically includes a mobile frame that is supported by wheels and set into motion via manual or motorized propulsion. To harvest crops, the frame of the crop harvesting machine is maneuvered over a crop plant such as a bush or small tree, and straddles the crop plant in the interior cavity of the machine. The cavity of the frame in the machine is typically in an inverted U-shape formed by a lateral interior roof surface joined at two ends by two opposing interior vertical side surfaces. To cause crops to be severed from the straddled crop plant, the crop harvesting machine typically includes a plurality of flexible arms or other means to impart shaking or other motions on the crops to cause them to fall from the crop plant. The flexible arms are typically disposed on the two opposing interior vertical side surfaces of the frame and extend inwards to contact crop plant s straddled within the cavity. To collect falling crops, the crop harvesting machine additionally typically includes a collecting surface disposed within the interior cavity of the frame below the flexible arms. A conveyer belt transfers the fallen crops from the collecting surface to the rear of the crop harvesting machine such as to be placed into collecting containers.
A drawback of existing crop harvesting machines is their inefficiency in preventing dropped crops which are not effectively collected by the machine. To accommodate the stem or trunk of the crop plants straddled in the interior cavity of the machine, the collecting surface of the crop harvesting machine typically has a central opening. During harvesting, up to as much as twenty-five percent of severed crops may be lost by their falling directly downward through that central opening onto the ground.
Accordingly, there is an outstanding need in the crop harvesting machine art to provide means for reducing crop loss and improving harvesting efficiency.